Dear All,
On 28th November, Simon Ball, Nigel Hunter and myself went for a days
trip down the Magadi Road, to see if any interesting migrants had come
in, or birds had moved back in to breed.

On the way we stopped at Corner Baridi, not the usually bushed scarp,
but the corner of “Leakey’s Road” before the descent. It was
surprisingly cold and breezy on the top, so we started off on a short
walk down the hill out of the wind. It’s an area that we had never
really looked at before, and our short walk turned into a two hour
hike.

Only just over the brow came our first surprise, in the short cropped
grass at over 7000ft were four Grey-headed Silverbills looking very
out of place in the verdant sward. Britton’s upper limit is 5,900ft.
Near them were five Short-tailed Larks. Britton’s limit is 5,580ft.
About five Tree Pipits were on the grass, but Grassland were far more
numerous and were nesting. On the rocky areas were Long-billed Pipits.
There used to be more acacias, but now there are only three on the
entire hillside, however even though two of the acacias were only a
metre high there was a pair of Brown Parisoma, and they even visited
the ground which is something I had not seen before. Yellow-crowned
Canaries were on the upper slopes, but along the lugga at the bottom
of the slope were White-bellied Canaries whilst Streaky and
Reichenow’s Seedeaters, African Citrils and Brimstone Canaries ranged
top to bottom. However Yellow-crowned and White-bellied Canaries are
not usually expected to be found in the same place.
There were five Wheatears, but all Northern, and a single
Golden-winged Sunbird.

The lugga had a few tiny pools in it, and was holding very little
moisture. There is fringing acacia scrub of a surprising number of
species, but the only palearctics in this seemingly beautiful habitat
were five Eurasian Bee-eaters and a couple of Willow Warblers. Very
interestingly Brown and Banded Parisomas were in the same trees, this
is the first time I can ever recall seeing them literally together.
Both are in NNP, with the Brown in the moister levels, and Banded
confined to the immediate vicinity of the Mbagathi. Grey Flycatchers
in spite of the altitude were common, and there was a good variety of
species, but nothing else unusual apart from an Open-billed Stork
which passed over quite low!

We walked through much scrub on the lower Magadi Road levels, in spite
of the effort the only palarctic passerine was a Garden Warbler, and
this the end of November.
There was not much evidence of rain, very poor in flowers and no birds
have moved back to breed. With the uncontrolled ecological damage, it
was a disappointing show.

Staying with the migrants poor show this year, at home in the paddock
the difference between this and last year is staggering. Whether last
year was exceptional because of much local fruiting, or drier causing
birds to wander, or something caused the migrants to be diverted
through Nairobi is not sure, but consider the following….

Common Buzzard: 2014 recorded on 14 dates to end November, 2015 only four times

Booted Eagle: first was on 20th Oct in 2014, but no record for the
2015 passage yet

Amur Falcon: 2014 six dates between 21st and 30th November, with one
feeding flock of forty after a rain storm, none so far in 2015

Eurasian Hobby: 2014 eight dates up to end November, only four dates so far

Eurasian Bee-eater: 2014 almost daily late Sept to end Nov, but in
2015 similarly recorded, but not multiple flocks in a day, nor a
persistent presence, much lesser numbers in total.

Eurasian Golden Oriole: This is the most drastic difference of all.
2014 from 20th Oct until last bird through on 22nd November, maximum
of twenty in a morning, recorded on 30 dates, amounting to over 200
bird/days in period. 2015 Five very early birds on 7th Oct, and also
five on 24th Oct, were the only birds recorded, just two dates and a
total of ten bird/days!

Willow Warbler: 2014 every day from mid Sept to end Nov. Usually five,
but up to fifteen in a morning. 2015 missed out on three dates,
otherwise daily, but max only five for several days, and usually two
and often just one bird.

Blackcap: In 2014, although a few earlier individuals, from 26th
October recorded every day up to end November, frequently double
figures and maximum of twenty on a couple of mornings. 2015, just one
earlier arrival, then from 27th Oct up to end November, not recorded
on nine dates at all, and maximum four birds, often two or more
usually singles.

Garden Warbler: 2014 from 22nd October until end November recorded on
35 dates with a maximum of five, 2015 first on 28th October, recorded
on 7 dates with maximum of two.

Tree Pipit: 2014 from 20th October recorded on 28 dates with maximum
of five, 2015, first bird on 5th November, then recorded on nine dates
to end of month, with maximum of two.

So this is the comparison of two very different years, and shows an
alarming drop in palearctics in 2015, but with only two years to
compare, I don’t know which year is the normal one! No Nightingales
were recorded at all in 2014, but this year we appear to have three
wintering. Also of course this year provided the Semi-collared
Flycatcher. It will be interesting to see what the Ngulia figures are
like, but so far NNP has been very quiet, though reasonable variety,
but Magadi Road, migrants are all but non-existent.


Best to all
Brian